Earlier this week members of the Senate Finance Committee approved the advance of Alex Azar’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to reports, members of the committee voted “largely along party lines,” with 15 Republicans voting in favor of President Trump’s nomination and 12 Democrats voting against it. Now that the nomination is being advanced, the next step will be for Azar’s nomination to “head to a what appears to be an easy confirmation vote on the floor before the full Senate.”
Earlier this week members of the Senate Finance Committee approved the advance of Alex Azar’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to reports, members of the committee voted “largely along party lines,” with 15 Republicans voting in favor of President Trump’s nomination and 12 Democrats voting against it. Now that the nomination is being advanced, the next step will be for Azar’s nomination to “head to a what appears to be an easy confirmation vote on the floor before the full Senate.”
But not every Republican was in favor of Azar’s nomination moving forward. For example, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “expressed concerns with the nomination,” largely because of the “lack of an endorsement from Azar for allowing drugs to be imported from overseas.” Democrats disapproved of the nomination because they “fear Azar would take actions harmful to ObamaCare in office and do little to rein in the cost of prescription drugs, among other concerns.” Regardless of those concerns two Democrats on the committee, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.), said “they would vote to confirm Azar.”
The decision to advance Azar’s nomination came after a handful of confirmation hearings where “Democrats quizzed Azar on his nearly 10 years as a pharmaceutical executive, most recently serving as president of Lilly USA until January 2017.” During the hearings, Democrats also noted the fact that “the price of several drugs more than doubled under his leadership and asked how Azar would work to curb this trend.”
Additionally, during a confirmation hearing last week Azar was asked if he “ever lowered the price of a Lilly drug in the United States,” to which he responded, saying:
“I don’t know that there is any drug price of a branded product that has ever gone down from any company on any drug in the United States because every incentive in this system is toward higher prices…And that is where we can do things together working as the government to get at this. No one company is going to fix that system, that’s why I want to be here working with you.”
So we know why Democrats aren’t in favor of Azar heading the HHS, but why do so many Republicans support him. For starters, many Republicans believe Azar’s experience in the “pharmaceutical industry is an asset because he already knows the ins and outs of this complex industry and will, thus, be able to determine what policies could be effective while at HHS.” When discussing the nomination, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said:
“By any objective account, Mr. Azar is very well qualified for this important position. He has close to two decades of experience, the right expertise, and sound judgment.”
Others have also noted how Azar has a “deep understanding of the regulatory process, which could prove important going forward.”
Sources:
Senate panel advances Trump’s nominee for Health secretary
Senate panel advances Trump health secretary pick
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